NMPF Chief Science Officer Jamie Jonker explains for listeners of Dairy Radio Now what the New World screwworm is, why dairy producers should be on the lookout for this pest, and what to do if screwworm is suspected in the herd. NMPF’s producer fact sheet on New World screwworm can be found here.
Author: Rachel Ravencraft
Regulatory Register: Summer 2025
Dairy Exports Surge in June, Dairy Product Stocks Hold Steady
U.S. Dairy: Trade Deal With Europe Must Deliver Real Change
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) welcomed today’s release of the Joint Statement on United States – European Union Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade. U.S. dairy leaders stressed that America can no longer afford to tolerate Europe’s entrenched protectionism, which has cost U.S. dairy farmers billions and stifled real market access. The Framework provides an essential opportunity to address those harms to benefit American dairy farmers and manufacturers.
According to the White House, the new agreement would provide preferential market access for U.S. dairy products and commit to resolving certain non-tariff barriers including streamlining requirements for dairy export certificates. Both elements are vital to improving Transatlantic trade relations.
“U.S. farmers win when competition is fair, but there’s nothing fair about Europe’s system,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF. “An agreement with the EU has the potential to unlock billions in new opportunities for American dairy. To get there, dairy exporters need to see market access opportunities into the EU mirror those the EU already enjoys when it ships butter, cheese and other dairy products into the U.S. market. We look forward to working with the Administration to ensure the EU follows through on delivering results that farmers can see in their milk checks.”
Exports are a lifeline for American dairy farmers, processors, and the rural communities they support. But Europe has turned trade into a one-way street. Trade that is reciprocal, fair and balanced requires leveling the playing field for U.S. exporters including ending the abuse of GIs as disguised protectionism and ensuring that EU tariffs and nontariff barriers do not shut out U.S. producers from selling products that are globally recognized and respected.
“This announcement is an important step in the right direction. America’s dairy farmers are done playing second fiddle in Europe’s rigged system,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “For too long, the EU has wielded tariffs and red tape, and misused geographical indications, as weapons to shut U.S. products out while European exporters enjoyed extensive access to our shelves. That imbalance has saddled us with a staggering $3 billion dairy trade deficit in 2024 alone. We’re pleased that the Administration is working to finally address this imbalance of opportunity.”
Protect your dairy from New World Screwworm
By Dr. Jamie Jonker, Chief Science Officer
The New World screwworm (NWS), scientifically named Cochliomyia hominivoraxis, is a dangerous pest that can affect livestock and any warm-blooded animal, even humans. This parasitic fly lays its eggs in open wounds, and then the young larvae, often called maggots, feed on the host animal’s living tissue. Recently, NWS has had a resurgence in parts of Central America and Mexico. The United States has taken measures to prevent the spread of screwworm to its borders, but livestock producers should be vigilant about monitoring for this rare threat.
Why is New World screwworm so dangerous?
Many types of flies and maggots feed on dead animal tissue, but the New World screwworm is especially dangerous because NWS maggots use sharp mouth hooks to eat the living tissue of the host. Because of this, untreated wounds will continue to grow and will attract more flies and maggots until the animal is essentially eaten alive.
NWS myiasis, or infestation, occurs when the NWS flies are attracted to open wounds of any kind; animals that have recently given birth, suffered an injury, or had a surgical procedure (such as dehorning or branding) are most at risk. Untreated umbilical cords of newborn animals and foot lesions are commonly infested sites, and even extremely small wounds, like tick bites, are enough to attract NWS flies. Once the flies lay eggs and the larvae hatch, the maggot infestation is extremely painful for the host animal and can be hard to treat. A single infected animal in the herd provides a source for many more flies to infect other animals.
What to do on your farm
Producers should watch for any of these signs in their herds to prevent painful infestation or even death:
- Presence of fly larvae (maggots) in wounds or other body openings, such as the nose, ears, and genitalia or the navel of newborn animals
- Wounds with bloody discharge and foul odor
- Signs of pain including depression, irritability, head shaking, not eating, and isolation
- The smell of decay
Producers who suspect NWS infestation should immediately quarantine affected animals and report the case to their local veterinarian, State Animal Health Official, or USDA. Do not attempt to treat suspected screwworm on your own without first reporting it to a veterinarian or health official.
Fly control measures — such as insecticide use — may help reduce instances on the farm. If NWS infestation is reported in your area, it may be wise to delay or reduce wound-causing procedures.
If your animals are treated for NWS, remember that all treatment options are subject to meat and milk withdrawal times for both lactating and nonlactating cattle. Be sure to keep milk from treated cows out of the bulk tank for as long as the treatment label or your veterinarian recommends, even if it tests negative.
Preventing a nationwide outbreak
Because the NWS can fly and easily move to new hosts, containing NWS spread can be challenging.
The United States officially eliminated NWS in 1966 using the sterile insect technique. This process entails creating a population of sterile flies in a lab and then releasing those flies into the wild, which reduces reproduction until the population eventually dies off.
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is actively working to prevent a NWS infestation in the United States. In the event of an outbreak, USDA and state governments may implement quarantines or movement controls.
Farmer resources
It’s extremely important to stay vigilant — especially with travel and livestock movement — to prevent New World screwworm. Early detection and quick reporting protect herds and the industry. Maintain good biosecurity measures and wound management, and remember that it’s always better safe than sorry: Immediately report any suspicious wounds or potential infestations to your veterinarian.
The National Milk Producers Federation has created an NWS fact sheet for producers, available here.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Aug. 18, 2025.
NMPF’s Hain Explains the Animal Care Risks of ICE raids on dairies
NMPF Chief Veterinary Officer Meggan Hain explains for listeners of Dairy Radio Now how law-enforcement interventions on dairy farms represent a real and immediate threat to animal welfare on U.S. dairies, as workers who understand how to properly take care of dairy cattle are taken away, with no immediate replacements.
Dairy Maintains Momentum Through Turbulence
It doesn’t really need to be said, because evidence is everywhere. But it’s worth repeating, in light of how easy it is to lose focus among turbulence in labor, trade and politics: Dairy’s future is incredibly bright.
Any skepticism toward that idea can quickly be countered with about 10 billion reasons. That’s the dollar amount of investments in new dairy processing capacity that’s coming online between 2023 and 2026, according to an NMPF analysis. Ultimately, these investments are an investment in the U.S. dairy farmer.
From Washington state to Georgia, manufacturers are placing their bets on increased consumer demand for dairy products. State-of-the-art facilities are promising to put affordable, nutritious dairy foods on store shelves and dinner plates in the United States and around the world. The processing growth is creating new outlets for dairy farm production, a tide that lifts all boats across the industry.
And the realization that growing consumer demand isn’t just a forecast: It’s current reality.
- U.S. fluid-milk consumption rose last year for the first time since 2009. Milk’s market share versus plant-based imposters continues to rise (as if nut drinks were ever truly a threat in the first place).
- Cottage cheese has emerged as the go-to snack food for Generation Z.
- And per capita overall U.S. dairy demand continues at levels last seen in the 1950s.
All that is a tribute to the fact that, even with all the diet diversification since then, dairy remains a bedrock of American diets, accessible to all, affordable, and trusted. It’s also a tribute to the industry’s vision and how long-term producer investment in the dairy checkoff has encouraged innovation in new research, technologies, and products.
Overseas sales remain a bright spot for the industry as well. That may seem surprising, given all the headlines of volatility in global trade as the United States tries to reset global commerce. But it’s true: In 2025 through May, the value of U.S. dairy exports was $3.873 billion, 13% higher than the same period last year, when they were $3.422 billion.
That’s a powerful testament to the resilience of U.S. dairy producers and exporters who work around the clock, managing and building relationships that are being heavily tested this year. While overall year-to-date sales volumes are slightly down, and Chinese retaliatory tariffs have heavily weighed down sales to that market, higher-value products like high protein whey products have grown 8% by volume and 30% by value year-to-date. Similarly, U.S. cheese exports are up 7% by volume and 18% by value when compared to 2024 exports through May.
Recent progress in new trade deals with trade partners such as Indonesia also brings encouragement that eventually trade waters will calm, with new opportunities possible for U.S. dairy producers as the turbulence ebbs. Thank you, U.S. Dairy Export Council, thank you NMPF member cooperatives, thank you, NEXT Program, and most all thank you, dairy farmers, for keeping this momentum going.
All this, of course, isn’t meant to give short shrift to the significant challenges ahead. At NMPF we are well aware of the workforce challenges facing dairy farms as a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration disrupts agricultural workforces. Current trade success so far doesn’t mean policy upheaval can’t damage or reverse progress, nor that export momentum will stay the same if new trade policies don’t improve global access opportunities. And consumer confidence faces misinformation threats that only become more sophisticated.
But heading into August, when Congress goes back home and policymaking hits a temporary pause, we at NMPF couldn’t be prouder to represent a growing, thriving industry — not one that’s free from challenges, but one that meets the challenges at hand. Dairy’s momentum becomes our momentum. That momentum is significant. It augurs well for the months and years to come.
Gregg Doud
President & CEO, NMPF
Fake butter is a dairy labeling crock
By Christopher Galen, Executive Director, American Butter Institute
Butter continues to be the case study for how real dairy products have been dogged by plant-derived imitators for decades. Where butter is concerned, oleomargarine has been nipping at its heels for nearly 100 years, starting at the dawn of the ultra-processed food era. Margarine use surged after World War II, but in the 21st century, a preference for natural foods and consumer aversion to long ingredient labels has turned the tide, as per capita butter use has grown, while vegetable spreads usage has melted.
But there’s always a new wrinkle to this competition, or, to mix metaphors, old wine in new skins. I’m referring to the Country Crock product made from seed oils (palm and canola, mostly) that doesn’t even meet the legal definition of margarine. Yet its makers have the gall to market this as “dairy free salted butter.” In addition to that highly suspect prominent label description, the Country Crock package includes an image of a traditional red barn associated with dairy farms and employs an image of real butter pats, not their oily impersonators.
This label is a flagrant violation of federal standards of identity, which define butter as a product “made exclusively from milk or cream, or both, with or without common salt, and containing not less than 80% by weight of milkfat.” That’s the clear description of the Code of Federal Regulations, and Congress even passed a Butter Act to further emphasize the point that plant-based imitators don’t fit the butter bill.
This misleading packaging prompted the American Butter Institute (ABI) to fire off a letter this summer to the FDA’s Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling, pressing the agency to either ask Country Crock to correct its label or seek its withdrawal from sale, given its false and misleading label.
Unfortunately, while the FDA was quick to respond to ABI’s complaint, the gist of its response was that it is relying on plant food marketers to police their own practices according to a 2025 FDA guidance indicating that if imitators use the name of a standardized food (butter, in this case), the imitation food should be qualified by its type of plant source. The FDA also wrote to ABI that it looks at the entire context of the label to identify the nature of the food within, to ensure that it is not misleading.
Thus, what’s particularly irritating here is that the label is obviously designed to deceive: apart from the oxymoron of “dairy free salted butter,” it also features a big red barn and silo on its front, while offering only in a very tiny font at the package bottom that it is a “79% plant-based oil spread.” If there is a better illustration of a false and misleading product package, you’d have to search the grocery store for a long time to find one.
I wish I were surprised by this shrug of the shoulders by FDA, but that’s been the consistent pattern for many years regarding things like vegan butter and plant-based butter . . . along with the whole panoply of fake milks, cheeses, ice creams, and yogurts, none of which have a drop of real dairy in them.
So, ABI and the National Milk Producers Federation will continue hammering away at the FDA regulators and ask them to simply do their jobs. We are hoping that the new leadership at FDA will feel compelled to defend food product integrity and help consumers make better choices about real foods — a process that has to start with the label.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on July 31, 2025.
U.S. Dairy Industry Celebrates Julie Callahan Nomination for Chief Agricultural Negotiator
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the Consortium for Common Food Names (CCFN) commended President Trump’s nomination of Dr. Julie Callahan to serve as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
“The role of Chief Agricultural Negotiator is critical to ensuring that American dairy farmers have a voice in trade negotiations,” said Gregg Doud, president and CEO of NMPF and a former USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator. “Dr. Callahan is the right choice. Her expertise and leadership in agricultural trade policy is second to none. Dairy farmers and the entire U.S. dairy industry look forward to working with her to open new export markets and hold our trading partners accountable. We ask that the Senate move swiftly to advance her confirmation process.”
Callahan currently serves as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy where she leads on expanding and preserving market access opportunities for U.S. farmers and food manufacturers. Her impressive tenure in agricultural trade policy spans across a variety of leadership roles with USTR and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in addition to early career experience with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service and the American Chemical Society.
“Dr. Callahan’s nomination today is a win for U.S. agriculture,” said Krysta Harden, president and CEO of USDEC. “The U.S. dairy industry depends on a proactive trade policy agenda to grow. Dr. Callahan brings deep trade policy expertise and an unmatched record of advocating for U.S. farmers and food manufacturers to a role vital to ensuring agriculture has a seat at the negotiating table. We look forward to working with her to drive back trade barriers and build markets for American dairy producers. USDEC calls on the Senate to quickly confirm her as our next Chief Agricultural Negotiator.”
“For far too long, the European Union has misused its geographical indications rules to monopolize common food names like ‘parmesan’ and block fair competition from U.S. producers,” said Jaime Castaneda, executive director of CCFN. “In her current role, Dr. Callahan has been leading the charge in preserving market access for U.S. common name producers in the face of these harmful EU policies. Her leadership will be instrumental in working to ensure that the European Union stops taking advantage of American farmers. We are excited for the opportunity to further work with her on this important mission and urge an expeditious confirmation process in the Senate.”
EPA’s PFAS Assessment is Well-Meaning but Wrong
By Clay Detlefsen, Senior Vice President, Regulatory & Environmental Affairs
As part of its effort to protect communities from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the Environmental Protection Agency has created a draft risk assessment modeling human exposure to the “forever chemicals” PFOA or PFOS from the application of sewage sludge, or biosolids, to farmland. This risk assessment does not model risks for the general public, only very specific populations living on or near sites affected by PFAS from biosolids.
EPA’s goal of the risk assessment is to inform future actions by federal and state agencies as well as steps that wastewater systems, farmers and other stakeholders can take to protect people from PFAS exposure, while also ensuring American industry keeps feeding and fueling the nation. And that’s a worthwhile goal. However, the models used in the draft risk assessment operate on extreme assumptions which don’t account for the reality of agriculture.
One part of EPA’s assessment models the PFAS exposure risk to dairy farmers. In this model, a dairy farm family lives on an 80-acre farm next to a 13-acre lake, where sewage sludge containing one part per billion of PFAS has been applied to the pasture every year for 40 years where the cows are raised. Everyone in the family drinks 32 oz of milk directly from the bulk tank each day, and they also eat eggs and meat from animals on the farm, fish from the nearby lake, and fruits and vegetables grown on the farm. The farm family has lived on the land for the past 10 years.
Sound familiar? Of course not. There’s not a single dairy farm in the country that produces every piece of food a family eats. Furthermore, there are not that many dairies in the United States that pasture raise their cows, and even fewer that apply sewage sludge from municipal wastewater systems to their pastures every year for 40 years. This model also does not account for existing best management practices for the land application of biosolids that farmers often incorporate into their practices.
EPA’s draft risk assessment is yet another example of the agency forcing a square peg in a round hole when it comes to PFAS on dairies. It is important to continue to increase our understanding of PFAS and how it moves through our ecosystem, as well as the potential health effects of PFAS exposure. But EPA’s misguided approach in this model paints an inaccurate picture that does a disservice to everyone.
The National Milk Producers Federation, together with other major agriculture organizations, will be submitting comments to EPA in the coming weeks that explain the shortcomings of the agency’s draft risk assessment on PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge and why this model should not be used to inform new regulations. There is no clear solution to this issue right now, but NMPF will continue to advise EPA about realistic representation of on-farm practices.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on July 17, 2025.
“Beautiful” Bill’s Passage Paves Way for Whole Milk
A massive tax and spending bill is now law — but with half a year left, Congress now can turn its attention to getting whole milk back in schools, NMPF’s Paul Bleiberg said in a Dairy Defined podcast.
“One item I’ll single out first that we’re hopeful to get done really in the next couple months here is the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” Bleiberg, NMPF’s executive vice president for government relations, said in a podcast released today. “We had a great voice vote, bipartisan voice vote out of the Senate Agriculture Committee just over a month ago, so we’re hoping that we can get that through the Senate and then through the House, and begin that work of getting whole milk and 2% milk back into schools and getting kids better access to the nutrient-dense dairy options that really give them the benefits they need and that they enjoy.”
Bleiberg also discussed efforts toward agricultural labor reform, the farm bill provisions included in current law and NMPF’s policy priorities for the rest of the year. Joining Bleiberg in the podcast is Maria Brockamp, NMPF’s new manager of government relations.
To learn more about NMPF’s policy efforts with our new bill tracker. For more of the Dairy Defined podcast, visit Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music and search under the podcast name Dairy Defined.
Dairy farmers poised for bill’s successes
By Paul Bleiberg, Executive Vice President, Government Relations
The nation’s Capitol is ground zero for numerous political debates, but none have been more all-encompassing this year than the budget reconciliation package House and Senate Republicans are crafting to enact President Trump’s policy agenda. Both chambers have been hard at work over the past few months to advance the package, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” to the president’s desk. Despite a tennis match of the fine-print details that is not yet settled, the pending bill includes many provisions that spell good news for America’s dairy farmers and their cooperatives.
The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) has been working diligently to support and maintain these successes which will benefit dairies across the country once they come to fruition. After the previous congress extended the 2018 Farm Bill, the congressional agriculture committees got creative and worked to include key farm-related resources in this budget package. In addition, as had long been expected, the tax-writing committees are renewing and improving key policies first enacted in 2017.
Thanks to the work of the Agriculture Committee Chairmen Glen “GT” Thompson, R-PA, and John Boozman, R-AR, the bill includes multiple provisions to strengthen dairy and farm policy. NMPF is poised to secure a long-term reauthorization of the Dairy Margin Coverage program with an updated production history calculation as well as critical resources for USDA to conduct mandatory dairy manufacturing cost surveys every two years to better inform future milk pricing deliberations.
The pending bill includes new investments for dairy priorities including conservation, trade, and animal health. It ensures increased long-term funding for popular, oversubscribed conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The package also provides new trade promotion funding based on current programs that return well over $20 in export revenue for every dollar invested in the programs. Finally, it boosts funding for animal health programs that help to prevent, control, and eradicate animal diseases, such as last year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle.
On the tax side of the ledger, House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-MO, and Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, R-ID, have worked to provide farmers and cooperatives with greater certainty. As family-owned businesses who unite to form co-ops, dairy farms are uniquely situated within the American business landscape. NMPF is pleased that the bill makes permanent the Section 199A tax deduction, enabling dairy farmer-owned cooperatives to continue either passing the deduction back to their farmer owners or reinvesting it in their cooperatives. The bill also includes an expectation for the Treasury Secretary to establish distinct emission rates for specific manure feedstocks, including dairy manure, so that energy projects fueled with dairy-derived renewable natural gas can generate greater revenue for the dairy farmer.
NMPF has been proud to work alongside the many voices in Congress and the agriculture community who have worked tirelessly to support America’s farmers and their cooperatives within the reconciliation bill. But these wins are not yet fully cemented into law, so dairy remains committed to sharing the stories of farm families as an essential component of guiding these policy successes across the finish line.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on July 7, 2025.
